Chapter 18
Around two-thirty that morning, I am rattled out of a light sleep.
The sound is muffled and far-off.
I look to where Philip snores beside me, dead to the world.
I lie in bed, listening to a sharp needling of sleet striking the windowpanes.
Seconds later, when the thudding noise grows louder, I toss the comforter off me and crawl out of bed, tiptoeing across the room, slinking out into the hallway.
The moment I step out into the hall, I am engulfed with the aromatic smells of chocolate chip cookies wafting in the air.
I check in on my parents who are three doors down from our room. I poke my head into one of the two spare bedrooms and listen to the growling snorts and spurts of my father fast asleep.
The room is too dark to see anything.
As I shut the door and turn and h
